Contenido:

domingo, 24 de abril de 2016

Blood Cultures

In general, patients who are acutely ill or have high likelihood of continuous bacteremia should have blood cultures drawn in the emergency department.

Blood cultures should not be taken from routinely stable, immunocompetent patients with common or typical infections such as cellulitis, orchitis, and community acquired pneumonia.

Blood cultures should be obtained prior to initiation of antibiotic therapy to maximize possibility of being useful clinically

When you have high suspicion for endocarditis, you may order 3 blood cultures from different venipuncture sites in the ED, each drawn 1 hour apart, OR 2 blood cultures from different venipuncture sites with a third to be ordered >12 hours later by your inpatient team.

Fever at the time of blood culture collection is neither sensitive nor specific for the presence of bacteremia.